RAND CORPORATION: REOPENING THE TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER, IS ONLY LIKELY AFTER A SETTLEMENT OF THE NAGORNO KARABAKH DISPUTE
Azeri Press Agency
April 23 2008
Azerbaijan
Washington. Vugar Huseynov-APA. "Since the end of the Cold War,
Turkey has strengthened its position in the Caucasus – a region where
it has long-standing interests," says the report titled "Turkey as
a U.S. Security Partner" issued by RAND Corporation for the United
States Air Force.
The report says that Turkey’s relations with Azerbaijan and Georgia
have improved significantly.
"However, the country’s relations with Armenia remain strained as
Turkey refuses to recognize massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces
as genocide," the report says.
The author of the reports Stephen Larrabee says that Armenia’s
continuing occupation of Nagorno Karabakh poses another obstacle to
better Turkish-Armenian relations.
"In 1993, in response, Turkey closed its border with Armenia
and suspended efforts to establish diplomatic relations with
Yerevan. Turkey has made settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict a
precondition for the normalization of relations with Armenia. Recently,
under U.S. pressure, Ankara and Yerevan have quietly begun to explore
ways to improve relations. However, while some small progress has been
made in improving relations, any major breakthrough, such as reopening
the Turkish-Armenian border, is only likely after a settlement of
the Nagorno Karabakh dispute", the report says.